


What You Have Is Special

by BlueWeirdness



Category: The LEGO Movie (2014), The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Genre: AU, Canon Divergent, F/M, I know I couldn't have spelled that right, No wedding, Some characters are OOC, canon diverges after the first fifteen minutes or so of the second movie, like right after Mayhem brings her spaceship in, no "Our-momma-geddon", no mind control here either, not five, probably not anyway, queen is the bad guy here, she wants one person, the rest of them can rot for all she cares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2020-05-30 22:32:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19412740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueWeirdness/pseuds/BlueWeirdness
Summary: The Sistar aliens weren't asking for much, just one little thing and then they would leave the citizens alone. Surely they wouldn't miss him. After all, wasn't he everything they'd come to hate?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everybody! This is my first time posting fanfiction to Archive Of Our Own, so thank you so much for reading.
> 
> Okay, so first I should probably clarify just in case that this is divergent after the first fifteen or so minutes of the second movie. Everything is the same up to that point. Except for that dream that Emmet has that foreshadows everything. That will most likely be disregarded here. I have some other things I'd like to explain, but I'll leave that to the end of the chapter.

“Look, I’m not actually here to cause any trouble,” the strange general explained. Emmet hoped she was telling the truth, though she did just crash her spaceship through their safe-house. Which was a very un-safe thing to do to a safe-house. And she just insulted him. A lot.

“I’m just here for one thing,” she said, “A person actually. The Favorite.” She sounded out the last word slowly and ominously.

“’The Favorite?’” Lucy asked.

“The Favorite,” Mayhem repeated.

“’The Favorite?’” Emmet echoed, “Is that like ‘The Special?’”

“Yes,” General Mayhem said, holding up some kind of tablet, “Maybe, anyways. According to my notes, I’m looking for, um…” she stalled, examining it closer, “E-mitt Brook-cow-ski... Did… Did I say that right?” She looked up at them as if expecting some kind of confirmation, but the entire room stayed dead quiet. Emmet figured they must have been as stumped as him. Something occurred to him, suddenly, however, and he piped up.

“Oh, no. We don’t have anybody by that name. But it sounds a bit like my—“

“Ha ha!” Lucy laughed as Benny lunged to cover Emmet’s mouth. “You know, that sounds familiar, but no, nobody like that lives here. Not even anyone with a similar name.”

“Really? Hang on, it’s spelled a few different ways here in my notes.” Mayhem scrolled furiously through her tablet screen. “Ah! They keep placing an emphasis on the ‘cow’ part of his name. Am I to believe that he’s some sort of—Hey!” Emmet felt his friends pause through their hold on him. Up to this point, they’d been slowly creeping away. Emmet didn’t know what was going on, but he figured his friends knew what they were doing, so he let them lead him away. 

Now that they had gained the general’s attention, however, Lucy began to hurry him through the crowd, while Benny tried to block her path along with his other friends. “Hurry! We’ll hold her off while you get Emmet to safety! Oh no, I said his name!”

“Too late.” General Mayhem, who had apparently had ignored the opposition, seemed to come out of nowhere again. Her appearance startled Lucy, and she accidentally released her grip on Emmet, forcing him to collapse at General Mayhem’s feet.

“So you’re The Favorite?” She didn’t exactly sound excited. (Though Emmet wondered if that was just her general personality by now.) 

Getting to his feet, Emmet smiled despite himself, “It’s nice to meet you.” He winced, glancing around, “Um, I mean… Insert angry words here?”

The armored lady face-palmed, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Hey, Emmet doesn’t have anything to do with you.” Lucy grabbed Emmet’s arm again, though this time she was a lot more gentle. 

“No.” Mayhem grabbed his other arm, jerking him forward, a lot less gently. In response, Lucy’s grip hardened once more as well. “He doesn’t have anything to do with you. As I said before, he doesn’t really fit in with this place.” 

Emmet struggled, trying to get back closer to his girlfriend, but it seemed that Mayhem was stronger than both of them. He could feel himself being pulled away from Lucy, slowly but surely.

“Regardless,” Mayhem continued, “My queen desires his presence. Allow him to come with me and the rest of you can continue on in peace… Or whatever you call what you were doing before.”

“Not a chanc—“

“Oh, just let her take him already!” A voice called from the crowd. 

Emmet wasn’t actually sure he’d heard it. “What?”

“Yeah! He’s part of the problem anyway!”

“He’s just as bad as the aliens!” A low chorus of agreement steadily grew as did Emmet’s dread.

“What? Why would you guys say that?” Though it was getting harder to hear her, as always Lucy’s words were a soothing balm to his pain. That was right. Lucy. He had to fight to stay with Lucy. He came to his senses and resumed struggling.

“Lucy!” She seemed to wake up as well, and tried to renew her grip on him. However, some of the citizens surged forward at the same time and to Emmet’s shock, ripped her away.  
General Mayhem pulled Emmet at full force then. Around them, the crowd had dissolved into chaos of arguing and fighting. Emmet couldn’t even see his girlfriend anymore. “Lucy!” He couldn’t even hear himself call for her at this point.

“Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!” It didn’t stop him from trying frantically.

When he could hear himself again, it took him a moment to realize that it was because he couldn’t hear anyone else anymore. Glancing around, it dawned on him that the general had managed to get him into her spaceship, and he hadn’t even noticed through his panic.

Mayhem quickly released him, and made her way to the pilot seat. “Ugh. I don’t believe this. It’s like I was sent on an epic quest to retrieve a sack of potatoes.”  
As the spaceship took off, Emmet was finally able to see Lucy’s face.

She looked almost as sad as he felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, guys. Special thanks to anyone who's left kudos or a comment. It's worked wonders for my motivation.
> 
> Okay, Round Two.

“Okay, okay! I’ll leave your stuff alone. But let me have Emmet, okay? He’s my favorite.”

A nudge startled Lucy out of her trance, finally prying her eyes away from opening from which the spaceship had escaped. Before she could ponder the strange voice she’d heard in her head, Unikitty herded her to face the crowd where the rest of her friends were gathered. Vaguely, she noticed that Metalbeard had lost his body again, presumably somewhere in the ruckus. The others seemed to be trying to calm everyone down, Batman having the most success. She tried to bring her focus back to the present.

But it wasn’t easy to care at this point.

“Are you guys crazy?” She stormed the rest of the way Batman’s side, “I can’t believe you, that any of you would let them take Emmet.”

“Hey! Not all of us wanted her to take him!” One of the crowd called. Lucy thought maybe Emmet had mentioned her before… Gale?

“Yeah!” Another called from farther back, “We were all fighting each other.”

Lucy grimaced. She supposed that in her anger, she assumed that they were all against her and her boyfriend. She just hoped that Emmet had been able to see that not everyone had been against him in the chaos. “Still, that doesn’t excuse the rest of you.”

“But even you said he was practically useless!” This guy… Emmet knew him too… Dave, was it?

“I didn’t say that. I just said that he didn’t change.”

“Same difference. He was dead weight.” Lucy scowled as a fresh chorus of agreement welled up.

“Wyldstyle.” Batman’s hand rested on her shoulder, “I got this.” He stepped past her toward the crowd, “Okay, just for the record, who here is willing to go after the baddies and get the little guy back? Show of hands?” Lucy raised her hand and smiled when she saw her closest friends attempt to mirror the gesture (in Unikitty’s case it was her tail, and Metalbeard had to order Benny to hold him up as best he could while trying to raise his own hand).

“Yeah!” Unikitty cheered, “Emmet’s still one of us!”

“Yar! He's always been there for us in his own way.”

“Besides, going after him means spaceship!” Benny yelled, barely containing himself.

Lucy almost didn’t mind when she turned back to the crowd to see that they were the only ones raising their hands. Whether they had been in favor of Emmet being taken or not, the folks in the crowd seemed to be going out of their way to keep their hands pressed to their sides. Some looked more ashamed than others. Lucy merely stared back at them, unimpressed.

“So it’s just you guys, then?” Lucy looked back to Batman and did a double-take when she realized that his hand wasn’t raised. 

“You’re not coming with us?” She knew that Batman wasn’t the most sentimental, but she was surprised that he wasn’t willing to take what had to be their biggest challenge yet.

“I can’t.” He confessed. He began to guide Lucy to the entrance gate, giving a signal for someone to open it. The sound of footsteps told her that her friends were following. “I have to do something here… Besides,” he winked, “I think you’ll be more than a match for them. If I go it’ll just be insult to injury.”

“We’ve lost to them plenty of times before.” Lucy and her friends were standing outside the gate now.

“Well, now you’ll be fueled with a powerful reason to fight.”

“Love?”

“More specifically, the angst of losing a loved one.” He winked again before closing the gate one them.

“Did Batman just hustle us?” Benny wondered. 

Lucy ignored him, lost in her own thoughts as she made her way across her wasteland home. Her friends followed silently behind, Benny carrying Metabeard’s head as always. Even the silence was a painful reminder of Emmet’s absence. There was no way he would ever willingly let her stay this sad for long. (Unless she told him to. Brooding and all that.)

She came to the wreckage of the house Emmet had shown her a little under an hour ago. She picked up the little pillow with her initial alongside Emmet’s as a strange mixture of nostalgia, longing, sadness, and anger churned within.

“Benny?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Can you turn this wreckage into a spaceship?”

The last syllable of her question was drowned out completely by the sudden throttle of the spaceship that she had been in the process of ordering Benny to make.

“Oh my goodness! I wanted to so bad the moment I saw it. But I was afraid to ask!”

Lucy smiled as Benny came back for Metalbeard, and together they boarded. “Great job.” Inside, Benny had made four seats, and he bounded for the pilot seat. Lucy took the captain’s seat in the center. Still holding the pillow, she smiled with new determination, “Now let’s go get Emmet back.”

“You said it!”

“Yar!”

“Spaceship!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't be too mad at Batman. Heh heh.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry I keep forgetting to mention things, but I just wanted to explain real quick that "Our-momma-geddon (or however you spell that) will also not be happening here. 5:15 probably won't be a significant time, either, since I want this to take place over the course of several days. Like I said, in Chapter 1's author's note, the dream will probably be entirely disregarded here.
> 
> Thank you for reading! The comments have been blowing my mind, as well as the number of kudos and hits. Seriously, thank you so much, you guys! When I read the comments, I was so happy I just didn't even know what to do with myself.
> 
> I hope you guys don't mind that this chapter is a bit longer this time. I've been looking forward to this.

“Wake up.” Emmet tried to disregard the voice. “Wake up.” the command repeated, louder this time. Without thinking, Emmet obeyed and opened his eyes, groggily raising his head to face the familiar armor-clad figure. His memories forced him to snap to attention as he sat up in the backseat of the spaceship she’d used to kidnap him.

“We’re here,” Mayhem said as Emmet glanced around fearfully. Here? That meant… Where was Lucy?

“Hmmm-Mmmm!” He tried to speak but realized that his mouth being held tightly together. Thankfully, his arms weren’t restrained, save for his seatbelt, of course. He grabbed at his mouth, and with a great deal of effort, ripped off what appeared to be a sticker of a winking smiley-face. 

“What happened?” He grimaced. Maybe it was best not to speak for a bit. 

“You wouldn’t shut up after you got over your initial panic. So I knocked you out.” The general explained simply. She went back to the pilot’s seat of the ship and pressed a few buttons. With a high-tech whoosh, the ship’s hatch opened, as Emmet undid his seat-belt. 

“You missed a lot of great scenery,” she continued as he reluctantly followed her out, “But whatever, there’ll be time for that later.”

They made their way out across a narrow walkway that was surrounded by the starry creatures from before. At least he hoped they were and that he still wasn’t seeing stars. For now he just decided to go through the motions. He knew his friends would surely come save him any minute.

Truthfully, he hadn’t even had time to think about what to expect. Everything had happened too fast, and it was like some weird nightmare. All things considered, he would have expected one thing though.

Ground. 

Also not such a bright atmosphere.

Honestly, it was a bit shocking. He hadn’t realized how used to brown he’d become. Plus, the folks back home would have never sung such a happy song anymore. He didn’t even realize that he was singing along, until Mayhem spoke up.

“Shut up.” The command was given without even turning her head.

“Oh, sorry,” Emmet said sheepishly, catching up to her. They came to a stop at a tall tower. “What is this place?” 

“Where you will meet the queen.” Mayhem said simply as the double-doors opened as if on cue. They walked toward the center of a large, circular room which was peppered in platforms, each holding at least one distinguished dignitary. On the largest platform in the center of the room, stood a regal, blonde woman. 

Emmet gasped, “Oh, is that the queen?” 

“Ah, no.” Mayhem said flatly. “The queen isn’t actually here. I mean, she’s supposed to be, but…” She called up to the woman on the platform, “Hey, Susan! Where is Queen Wa’Nabi?” Susan only shrugged in a clueless fashion, and the general sighed before addressing the room, “Has anyone seen the queen? Did I get the time wrong?”

Suddenly, there was a flash of red and pink. Before Emmet could fully process it, however, he felt a hand turn him around.

At least he thought it was a hand.

“Hello, Emmet!” Emmet yelped and fell back as the tentacle-clad monster loomed over him.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” to Emmet’s increasing shock, her form melted down to Emmet’s height, looking more humanoid. “Did I get your name wrong? There was some debate about how it was pronounced.”

“Uh, no,” Emmet chuckled nervously as he got up, “You got it right.”

“I was afraid you’d forgotten, my queen,” Mayhem said.

“What? No, don’t be silly, May! I just wanted to impress our guest, that’s all.”

“Perhaps, but it’s no surprise that he was terrified instead. Turns out he’s a total pushover.”

“Hey!”

“Oh hush, Mayhem,” the queen chastised as she glided around the two toward the center of the room. “We haven’t even properly introduced ourselves to each other. Not everyone is as simple as the scanners in your helmet.” 

Emmet smiled back at her as she oriented herself to face him. She rose into a somewhat taller humanoid form. “Now. As I was saying before… Hello, Emmet. I am known as Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi.”

The smile slipped from Emmet’s face, “Can you say that again?”

“Sure. Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi.”

“Uhhhhh.”

“There a problem, sweetie?

“Quinn Whatza… Worda… Whata-bean?”

“Um…”

“Queen Wa-Lui—“

“Why don’t you just call me ‘Queen’ for now, honey?”

“Okay! I’m Emmet, it’s so nice to meet you.”

“Likewise, Emmet. Especially since the irony is that we’ve already met.” The queen shifted her form once again. She took her time with this one, and her body even glowed until she settled into the shape of a heart. Emmet gasped, realizing that the form and its colors were more than just a little familiar.

“You look just like…”

“You remember that day, don’t you?” The creature asked excitedly, “You gave my subjects a beautiful pink heart-shaped object. They scooped it right up and asked for more.”  
The memory was honestly a lot more horrifying to Emmet than the way she described it, but nevertheless, Emmet was flattered. “You… you liked that?”

“Liked it? Emmet that was me!” She shifted back into her previous tentacle-monster form, then to a more humanoid form, and back again into the heart. “You were an inspiration to my people. And now…” She shifted into a bird, then a cat, then a horse, before coming back to her humanoid form, “I can be whatever they need me to be. You see, Emmet? That’s why you’re The Favorite.”

Emmet could only stare back at her for a moment. He must have lost track of time, because she looked at him with a little concern, “Are you okay there, Emmet?”

Emmet shook himself, “Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, I think I just need a moment. I’ve never been anyone’s favorite before… Well,” he corrected himself, “Except maybe Lucy.”

…

The queen paused. The moron didn’t seem to catch on, but Mayhem knew that the queen was a bit disoriented by the change in topic. Mayhem wondered if the queen had considered the personal attachments he’d be leaving behind before now. Not that she could blame her. The folks in Apocalypseburg didn’t exactly seem like the buddy-buddy type from what the envoys had said.

“Ah, Lucy?”

“She’s my girlfriend,” Emmet chirped.

“Alright, well—“

“And my best friend…”

“Um…”

“And my breakfast-buddy, my video-game-buddy, my coffee-buddy, my lunch-buddy…” he went off on another tangent, and Mayhem merely stared back at the queen when she turned to look at her questioningly. She slowly leaned over to Mayhem, while he continued to rattle on.

“Is… Is he talking about just one person?”

“I stopped trying to figure it out a while ago.” Mayhem answered.

“Emmet, sweetie.” Her highness called, stopping Emmet’s rant by putting a hand to his shoulder. “Why don’t you build a little something for my subjects real quick? I need to have a word with my general.” She clapped her hands together, and some servants dumped some seemingly random building materials into the center of the throne room. Some of the stars from outside had sneaked their way in, and chattered excitedly. "Feel free to build anything you like."

Emmet smiled as she guided him toward the pile, “Really? Anything?”

“Knock yourself out.”

As Emmet busied himself, the Queen Wa’Nabi turned back to Mayhem and they stepped away together toward the edge of the room. “What can you tell me about this Lucy-person?”

“You should have heard him on the ride over. ‘Lucy this, Lucy that.’ It was obnoxious almost to the point of being terrifying.”

(Just a little while ago)

“Lucy this! Lucy that! Have I told you about Lucy yet?”

“I can’t take this anymore.”

“And another thing about Lucy is—“

Whack!

(Back in the present)

“I put a sticker over his mouth just to buy me a little time. Your majesty… Are you sure about this? He is very different from what I expected.”

“And what did you expect?”

“I’m not sure. But even his own kind seems to regard him as being the weakest and the least useful.”

“Is that so?” The queen hummed in thought, “Actually, maybe we can use that to our advantage.”

“So you still want him?”

“Don’t you see, general?” Wa’Nabi said, “He is a goofball and a weirdo. And he’s overly-optimistic and childish.”

“Uh, yes, your majesty?”

“But that’s exactly why he fits in here. Look.” She gestured back to the center of the throne room. The dignitaries had stepped off of their platforms to gather around Emmet. He seemed to have welcomed the help happily and chattered to them as they handed him building-material and offered suggestions.

“And… Ta-Da!” He motioned grandly to the statue he’d made.

It was a statue of a… a waffle?

“I just went with the first thing that came to mind,” he explained, “Which was apparently a waffle. I’ve… been thinking a lot about those lately for some reason. Also Lu—“

“So Emmet,” the queen intervened, “What do you think of the Sistar System so far?”

“This is way different than what I would’ve expected,” Emmet admitted. “From what we’ve seen and what Lucy and the others said, I thought you guys were evil, or something.”

“Evil?” The queen laughed, “Oh, Emmet. That’s the last thing I’d want to be.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah. In fact, maybe I could even sing you a little song about it later.”

Mayhem tensed up. No, not again. That would make it the fifth musical number that week.

“But for now…” Mayhem relaxed, “You must be feeling exhausted and underappreciated. General Mayhem is one of my best, but I understand that she’s given you quite the hard time.” 

And the tension came back.

“Oh, it was nothing that wasn’t true, I guess,” Emmet dismissed the observation to Mayhem’s surprise. “But listen, I’m really glad that I got to meet you all. The others’ll be so glad when I tell them that there was nothing to worry about and we don’t need to fight anymore!”

“Of course! There’s absolutely no reason to fight! We brought you here because we knew you would understand our ways the most of all. We want you to work with us to find a solution to all of this. We’ll be heroes to both our homes!”

“I could be a hero?” The awe in his voice was almost pathetic. “But what about my friends? Shouldn’t they be involved with the solution? I mean… they do know what the others want more than I would.”

“Ah, we’ll see what we can do. For now, I’ll have someone show you to your room. Susan?” Wa’Nabi clapped her hands together. “Take Emmet to the room we’ve prepared.”

“Of course, your majesty.” The blonde servant jumped down from the platform and hurried to his side.

“Are you sure we shouldn’t just—“

“Relax, sweetie,” the queen soothed, “We can take worry about all that nonsense tomorrow.” Emmet still looked uneasy, but he nodded and let Susan lead him out of the throne room and deeper into the palace. Once they were gone, the queen turned back to Mayhem, her smile completely gone.

“Make sure his door is locked tightly. We have to make sure security is airtight before he signs The Contract.”

“My queen, I will personally see to—“

“No, I’ll see to it. I need you to keep an eye on him whenever he leaves his room.”

For about the sixth time since they’d landed, the general was glad to have her helmet. But she was nothing if not a good general. So with her patience hanging by a thread, she saluted.

“Yes, your majesty.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting with this chapter, I'm going to be including settings in the Sistar System from my own headcannons. The movie made it seem like the Sistar System was super huge, to the point where I'm wondering how many toys these kids actually have. So for my purposes, I thought I'd take advantage of that. This is one of several reasons that updates may slow down a bit, so apologies in advance.
> 
> By the way, does anybody know how to get rid of the long author's note from Chapter 1? I just meant it to be in Chapter 1, but for some reason it comes with every chapter and it's really annoying. I want to leave it in Chapter 1, though, so I guess I'm not going to delete it if I don't have to.
> 
> In any case, thanks for reading!

“Don’t worry, Emmet,” Lucy said, with an intense gaze on the pillow. “We’re coming for you.”

“Uh, Wyldstyle?” Unikitty prompted from the seat to her left. The feline’s gaze was gentle, but a bit uneasy. “I’m sure that if Emmet were here, he’d be super-reassured. But, uh, it’s just us here.”

“And ye’ve said that twenty-eight times,” Metalbeard stated, though he couldn’t turn to look at her.

“So for the sake of everyone’s sanity, will you just can it already?” Benny called irritably.

“Aye, and that’s coming from a guy who never shuts up about spaceships.”

“Look,” Unikitty said gently, “We all miss Emmet, Wyldstyle. But it’s only been a little while. And we’ve been in messier jams, right guys?”

“That is right,” Metalbeard agreed. 

They waited for Benny to respond, but the space-man was oddly quiet, though he seemed to man the controls just as rapidly as ever. 

“Uh, Benny?” Lucy ventured.

“No. I mean, yes. I mean, I miss Emmet. I just have a really hard time being in a spaceship and empathizing with somebody who isn’t happy being on a spaceship while being on a spaceship,” he rambled. Somehow, he was able to make wild, expressive gestures, while seemingly maintaining a fluid control of the ship. “Look, just ask me about this when we aren’t in a spaceship, okay?”

“Okay.” Unikitty turned back to Lucy, “Let’s all just keep in mind that we’re different now. Tough.”

“Right,” Lucy shifted in her seat. She was a little embarrassed that her friend needed to remind her. Usually, she had no problem maintaining that attitude. She just needed to remember what Batman had told her. To be motivated by angst. That should make her stronger.

Right?

“Right,” Metalbeard said, “Emmet will need us to be strong. You know, being pretty weak himself and all.”

Lucy fought back the resurfacing guilt, and tried to smile. “You’re right,” she said with more confidence. “We have to pool all our strength together if we want to get Emmet back.”

“You got it, lass!”

“We’ll see Emmet again in no time!”

“Right again!”

“Starting with getting through the Stair-Gate!”

“Uh…” Lucy paused at Unikitty’s latest response.

“’Uh?’”

“Uh, we passed the Stair-gate some time ago,” Metalbeard explained.

“Yeah. We’re already just outside the Sistar System… I think. Right, Benny?”

“Spaceship! I mean, yes! I’m just… looking for a place to land.”

“Oh.” Lucy hadn’t realized just how long she’d been gazing at the pillow Emmet had made for her. She set it aside, “How’s it coming then, Benny?”

“I told you. I’m spaceshippin—landing! You’ll see.” 

Lucy pretended not to see the strange look that Unikitty was giving her, while trying not to look at Emmet’s pillow again.

…

Lucy led the group out of the spaceship, unsure of what to expect. According to Benny, it had appeared to be the planet on the outermost edge of the Sistar System. More importantly, it hadn’t appeared to be host to too much activity. They decided to land there as a starting point, agreeing that it would be wise to gain reconnaissance on foot first.  
The area was one that Lucy was certain that Batman would have approved of. The house-spaceship they’d landed seemed to be the brightest thing for miles. If it wasn’t obvious enough that it was a wasteland, the gargantuan sign in the sky nearby read “Reject Pile.” Ironically, the sign was glittery and bright pink.

Benny gasped, making a beeline for a particularly steep pile nearby, “You guys! Look at all the stuff I can build spaceships out of!”

Metalbeard groaned as Lucy set him down, “You build spaceships out of anything, Benny.”

“Well, yes, that’s true,” Benny admitted. He gestured to the pile next to him, “But look, there’s some already half-built ships here.” Taking a closer look, Lucy saw what he meant. Several of the objects jutting out from the pile did resemble the wings and jets of a spaceship.

“And look,” Unikitty called, “It even looks like there’s some machinery like the junk Metalbeard uses for a body!”

“Really?” Metalbeard perked up, “Aye, someone get me a closer look.” As requested, Lucy brought her friend closer to the other pile. Sure enough, there were things that looked like they could partially-built robots. At least it resembled that to Lucy, there were so many bits and pieces that seemed to almost blend in together. Something resembled a claw-hand here, something that might have once been a metallic jaw there.

She took a moment to inspect some of the other piles as well. She realized that the stuff surrounding them looked familiar, in a manner of speaking. Many things looked like they’d been half-hearted attempts that were abandoned. Other things appeared to be single dark bricks and gears that had just been unceremoniously left all over.

“You know… This stuff looks like the kind of things we’d have back home.”

“You think this is where they put all their edgy stuff?” Unikitty asked.

“They did stay away from our stuff more after we changed,” Lucy reminded her.

“Hey!” A new voice caused them to freeze, “I heard something over there.” Before any of them could hide, a robotic-looking, bulky soldier lumbered around a larger pile of rubbish near where Benny was working. Lucy held its stare, trying to gauge whether or not now was the time to go on the defensive. 

To her surprise, the soldier merely stared back, “What are you doing here?” Contrary to the prior shouting, it didn’t seem especially hostile. At least not yet.

“Uh, why?” Lucy forced herself to relax, stilling Unikitty behind her in what she hoped was a subtle way. “Is this place off-limits?”

“I don’t appreciate the sarcasm, civilian. You know that nowhere’s off-limits in the Sistar System. It’s just that usually no one wants the stuff here. Usually people come to dump stuff they don’t want.” The soldier said it slowly like it was common knowledge, and looked at them in suspicion. Lucy scrambled for an excuse.

“Uh, that’s why we’re here,” she blurted, “Because we wanted to get rid of…” She pointed at their ride, “Um, that.”

“This?” The soldier walked closer to it. “This doesn’t belong here.”

“It doesn’t?”

“It’s much too bright and colorful and cheerful, and well,” the robot chuckled, “Downright adorable.”

“Mmm, yeah,” Lucy agreed, contradicting herself without thinking. Hearing somebody else praise her boyfriend’s handiwork made her feel warm and sad.  
“In fact, if you don’t want it, I wouldn’t mind—“

“No! I mean, uh, we didn’t really want to get rid of that, per se.”

“Darn right!” Benny called, having gotten back to work on the spaceship piles, “I want anything relating to spaceships, and I don’t care if it’s suspicious!” 

Lucy ignored him, “We were getting rid of some stuff on the ship.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yes!” Unikitty interjected, surging forward, “But we got rid of most of it already.” She waved vaguely with her tail, “It’s around here somewhere.”

“Oh,” the soldier said, though to Lucy’s unease, they returned to a suspicious look. “Though to be honest, you guys do look like the type to scavenge things around here. What’s your deal? Are you guys musicians, something?”

“How did you—I mean, yes.” Lucy was glad that her flabbergasted response would likely supplement her claim, and for once she was glad of her insecurity. “We’re the…” she stalled, “’Rescue Mission’… uh…” Crud. 

“Of Rainbows!” Unikitty intervened. When Lucy gave her a questioning glance, she leaned in to whisper, “They love bright stuff, remember?”

“Uh, okay.”

“Yeah! We’ve got kind of a… A controversial thing going on. Uh, that’s why we don’t match our… tour bus! It’s a kind of dark-and-edgy-meets-super-happy-rainbow… stuff?”

The soldier stared at her, “Um, well okay. I’m not sure I understand, but everybody in the Sistar System loves music.” 

“Yeah,” Lucy nodded, “We’re new, but we were on our way to the queen’s palace. We have a concert there. Could be our big break.” She winked, trying to adopt an enthusiastic façade. 

“Do you think you could give us directions?” Unikitty added.

“Uh… Well, I can help you get to Lyricia. It's the prime gathering-place for musicians. But the palace is a no-go until after tomorrow. At least not without direct verification from the queen.”

“I thought you said that nowhere was off-limits?” 

“Usually,” the soldier amended, “But apparently the queen has some big surprise-guest, or something. It’s gonna be a huge twist-reveal tomorrow. Invite-only.” The knots in Lucy’s stomach were twisting into knots as she listened. Emmet…

“But I can lead you to Lyricia, if you’d like.”

“Yes! Anyplace you can direct us to, where we can get more intel would be great.”

“Okay. My name’s Lyke, by the way.” The soldier seemed a bit more relaxed with her weird answers now. It actually caused Lucy to wonder how big the Sistar System was for them to just accept strangers like that. There was no way anybody in Apocalypseburg would ever be this helpful to somebody who just walked in. 

Lyke pointed to the south of the clearing, “My ship’s that way. Standard Sistar ship: pink and white, can’t miss it with all this, ugh, garbage.”

Lucy nodded as Lyke walked in the direction they’d indicated. Finally clear, she turned back to the others. “Well, that was helpful,” Unikitty commented.

“Aye, but are ye sure we couldn’t have taken them?” Metalbeard questioned, apparently forgetting the fact that he currently had no usable body.

Lucy nodded, “These guys have proved to be tricky to deal with, even for us. And now we’re on their turf. It’s like you said, Emmet needs us, but we can’t just barge in. We’ll have to do this carefully and precisely, which means that for now, we have to play by their rules.” The others begrudgingly agreed.

“Besides,” Lucy indulged herself in a darker tone, “It’ll make it that much sweeter when we take them all down at once.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. :D

“Oh boy! A new day!” Emmet said, as was his usual wake-up routine for the past several years. Also as usual, he made a point of keeping his eyes closed as much as he could control for the first sixty seconds upon waking. “Time to open my eyes and greet the day after another weird drea—“

He cut himself off with a yelp as he sat up, bolted to his feet, and stepped away from the bed.

“This isn’t my un-comfy bed!” He involuntarily jerked his arm forward when it brushed against an ornate, blue-velvet chair. He glanced around at the equally-polished surroundings. “This isn’t my dilapidated room!” Light coming through an open window caught his eye, and he stalled for a moment to see the open space, glittering lights, and distant planets stretching out beyond the small opening. “And that definitely isn’t Apocalypseburg,” he said, walking to the window in a stupor. 

A crash jolted from behind him. The door to his room now dangled from its hinges. Mayhem stood in the doorway. “I heard screaming, what’s the trouble?”

“Oh, uh, no trouble.” Emmet rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I just forgot that I wasn’t home. And, I, uh… I sort of freaked out,” he mumbled out the last part.

For a moment, Mayhem just stared at him. Emmet was suddenly acutely aware that he couldn’t read her expression. It was probably safe to assume that she was probably not too fond of him by this point though.

“Not surprising,” she said at last. “Well, while you’re awake, I should probably tell you that you’re expected to be there at the speech the queen is giving later today.”

“Speech?”

“She’s arranged a public meeting where we’ll discuss a peaceful trade with your… friends.”

“Right, the queen mentioned something like that last night. And then everybody can stop fighting and I can go home, right?”

“Ideally, yes.”

“Great, so when can we start?”

“Unfortunately, not until later today, around 6 o’ clock p. m.”

“Oh,” Emmet shifted slightly. “What time is it now?”

“About 5 past 8 o’ clock.”

“Oh,” Emmet repeated, shifting a little more obviously,” So, what do I do until then?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing? Surely there’s something we can do. Can’t I explore this castle or… Or hey,” Emmet pointed out the window. “You could show me around that planet over there.”

“I doubt that’s a good idea.”

“I could go there by myself…”

“That’s a worse idea.”

“Ack! Mayhem!” The shrill voice startled Mayhem, to Emmet’s surprise. A maid was gawking at the door that lay mangled and nearly forgotten. “You’ve got to stop bustin’ doors down!” 

It was Mayhem’s turn to shift uncomfortably, “It was a wall last time.”

“Doesn’t matter!” She put a hand to her face before storming off and groaning, “I’ll fetch the handyman, but you better believe me and the gals are gonna be talkin’ behind your back!”

“Wait, is it behind your back if she tells you?”

Mayhem turned back to Emmet, “Actually, you're right. We should leave now.”

…

Until he stepped off of Mayhem’s ship, Emmet hadn’t realized what a nostalgia-trip it would be to come to this place. He didn’t even know the name of it and he was almost afraid to know, for fear that it would shatter the illusion. The uniformity, the skyscrapers and the tight-knit shops. The smell of pollution. And was that… Was that the sound of construction in the distance?

“Are you in there?” Emmet nodded, coming back to himself. Usually, he’d be all over the place. But here he found himself stuck in his own head, replaying the countless times he’d wander his urban home instead. Before all the buildings had become worn down. Before, when he could build without worrying that it would be torn down. Before Lucy.  
Okay, so it wasn’t all that great then.

He shook himself, realizing he was letting himself slip back into a reverie. He had to distract himself. One of the shops caught his eye, and he pointed, not giving himself time to think. “Um, hey, let’s go get…” He stalled as he realized what the shop’s name was, bringing a different nostalgia (though this was for a much more recent time). “Coffee at… The Coffee Shop.”

Mayhem shrugged, “Sure, why not.”

…

“What’ll it be, honey?” The kind-looking cashier jolted him from what had to have been his sixth daydream since landing. He finally looked at the menu above. He started again, though this time the surprise was a pleasant one. There wasn’t one thing on the menu that didn’t seem to be some kind of dessert. It also seemed like, despite being a rather small shop, they had everything. Donuts, muffins, even cake, and…

“Waffles?” Emmet tested, “Yeah, one waffle, please. And one cup of regular coffee with… thirty sugars and a little cream.”

The cashier gave him a small, friendly smile, “Going easy on the sugar there, honey? I thought the regular amount in the Sistar System was at least forty.”

“Really?” Emmet was impressed.

“Sure thing! We’ll have that right out for you. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be new here, would you?”

“I’m just visiting.”

“He’s with me,” Mayhem cut in, “As for me, I’ll have a—“

“I’m sorry, you’ll have to speak up.”

“I’ll have a—“

“No, still can’t hear you, honey. Why don’t you take off that helmet?”

Mayhem scoffed, but complied, “Fine.” Emmet was unable to keep his jaw from dropping at the sound of her voice shifting. He’d known she was a girl, sure, but there was still something alarming at just how girlish and young she sounded. Sweet.

“I was trying to say that I just wanted an espresso.” It was a lot easier to hear the irritation in her voice now as well.

“Espresso…” the waitress squinted at Mayhem. “Wait a minute… Is that you, May?” Mayhem’s eyes widened, “Mel?”

“Hey guys!” Mel called to the kitchen-area. A moment later, two other employees appeared. “Look who’s here. It’s May!”

“You sure?” One, a blonde guy, asked.

“Totally. She ordered the only bitter thing on the menu! And I had to practically twist her arm to get her to take her helmet off.”

“Sounds like May alright.” The other, a redheaded girl, agreed. She looked Mayhem over curiously. “Different helmet though.”

“Uniform.” Mayhem dismissed flatly.

“So what happened?” Mel said, ignoring her dismissal. “You got a job at the castle and then we never heard from you again.”

Emmet looked at Mayhem in curiosity, “You’re from here?”

“No.” Mel said, “We just got relocated a little while ago. But what a coincidence!” She set her food on the counter and Mayhem paid for it stiffly and quietly. “You should introduce us to your—“ 

Emmet grabbed the paper-plate that held his waffle just in time before Mayhem yanked him away and out the door.

…

They sat now in silence as Mayhem waited for Emmet to finish his breakfast. It was easily the best waffle he'd had in ages, though his one regret was that he hadn't gotten the chance to smoother it in syrup and butter.

After Mayhem whisked him out of the café, they settled at a nearby park. Mayhem downed her espresso and slammed her helmet back on while Emmet watched for a moment in amazement. He didn’t know what her problem was, though. They were really the ones around. 

Actually, come to think of it, the town did seem pretty empty, save for a couple of people here and there on the streets. That was one difference between here and his home, he supposed. “Pretty quiet for a city,” he finally commented aloud, finishing his coffee.

“That’s because it’s new,” Mayhem explained. “Give it a little time.” She pointed down a street that stretched beyond Emmet’s view. “This place isn’t actually finished yet.”

Emmet’s nostalgia returned, “So there’s a construction site nearby?”

“Yes.”

“With a construction crew?”

“Isn’t that a given?”

That works together as a cohesive team?”

“Are you going somewhere with—“

“That sings musical-numbers while they work?”

“Okay. Wow. Really, really bizarre and specific there, but yeah, probably. Most of us here like music a stupid-amount.”

“Can we—“

“No.”

“How do you know what I was going to say?”

“I assumed from your freaky line of questioning. And the answer is no. Not yet anyway. I probably shouldn’t have brought you this far, but you can talk to the queen about it later.”

“Oh.” Emmet looked down. The fit of nostalgia gone, he returned to missing his friends. He shook himself before he could get too sad though. Lucy would tell him to be strong.

He had to just relax and let the time pass by. The meeting with the queen would come before he knew it. Before he knew it.

Before he—

Why wasn’t it before he knew it yet?

“Um.” Mayhem looked pointedly to his fist, which held stubbornly to the empty plastic cup he’d apparently just crushed.

“Sorry.” The apology was uneasy. That really wasn’t like him, and he didn’t really know what else to say. “So, uh, how long until the meeting?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's it going?
> 
> So, um, I guess I might as well confess now that I'm not very confident yet when it comes to action scenes. So yeah, this story might not be very action-packed. Still, I will try my best not to just make everybody stand around talking all the time.
> 
> It's kind of important to the story that they do that this time, though.

“Finn, honey, why are you so sad? You don’t even play with Emmet anymore.”

“I know… but Bianca shouldn’t just—“

“Besides, you’ve got all those other toys all to yourself now.”

…

“Wyldestyle, you haven’t been out here all night, have you?” Unikitty stepped out to join Lucy on the balcony. The night before, Lyke had led them to a hotel situated at the “Music-captial” of the Sistar System and departed shortly after. The group then divided into two, each taking a room. 

“To tell the truth, I don’t know how you slept with all those bright lights and glitter in there.” It was true, though the city of Lyricia was brimming with lights, seemingly even more so as the sun rose, the inside of their room hadn’t been much different. It seemed like every time they figured out how to turn one off, another five came on. Eventually, they gave up, but Lucy slipped out a few hours later.

Unikitty shrugged and looked a bit sheepish, “I may have missed drowning myself in glitter-sparkles just a bit. Don’t tell anybody.” She shook her head, “But don’t change the subject. Did you get any sleep or not?”

“I mean, I think I got some sleep.” Unikitty continued to stare at her, “Okay, so probably not at all. Not a big deal. We pull all-nighters all the time back home.” Except for Emmet. He could have slept through anything.

“That’s different. We’ve still got a long way to go. Have you seen how huge this place is? Emmet could be anywhere.” Her friend’s frown reminded Lucy that she wasn’t the only one worried about Emmet and she softened.

“Not anywhere,” Lucy amended, “You heard what Lyke said, about some kind of speech-twist-reveal-thing?”

“You think they’ll have Emmet there?”

“The timing’s just too perfect.”

“What do you think they want with him?”

“Nothing good.”

…

Lucy picked at her food, now to blend in with her surroundings more than anything else. She’d tried to eat, since she really hadn’t eaten anything since before Emmet had been stolen, but she just couldn’t bring herself to take more than a couple of bites. To say that the food from the overpriced café was sickly-sweet was a raw understatement. Surely biscuits hadn’t always tasted like cake? It appeared that Unikitty was the only one out of them who was enjoying the food, though even she was going at it slowly.

Also, if Lucy wasn’t mistaken, wasn’t coffee supposed to be bitter? She thought for sure she’d ordered it black.

But everyone at every table around them was eating this garbage like they’d gone even longer than Lucy without eating, and she knew it was imperative that they acted like they belonged here.

They didn’t make much small-talk, either. It was just as important that they gather intel, but it was a little difficult to do so when this place as well as every other in Lyrcia. It was a huge improvement just to be eating inside where there was only one song playing inside of half-a-dozen minimum. Indeed, it seemed like something had been playing from every direction. Every store? Every street-post? It was impossible to tell. Thankfully, none of the music seemed to have lyrics, despite the name of the town, though it could have just been lost in the overall hum over the chattering citizens who appeared to be immune.

The people sitting around them did all look stereotypically like they were in bands. Lucy supposed that meant they were in the right place to blend in after all. So far they’d only gotten one or two strange looks, and that was only at Metalbeard’s head. Some were dressed like punk-rockers, some pop-stars, boy bands, death-metal, ect. When she was a kid, she might have really loved a place like this.

But this was now. And they took her boyfriend.

There wasn’t much in the way of intel so far, either. A lot of the things they’d overheard so far were trivial, cutesy, or mundane at best. It made her wonder why they were so afraid of these people in the first place.

“So what’s up with this whole announcement-thing today?”

Finally.

Lucy exchanged a silent look with the others and gave a quick side-glance to a couple of DJs sitting at a table to her right.

“Dunno, but it better be worth it. I had a dance-party planned tonight.”

“Me too!” The first gushed, “But did you hear the rumors? I heard from a friend who knows a friend who knows a cousin of the first friend whose bestie works in the palace.”

“Ted? What would he know?”

“Not much usually, but he said that The Favorite is staying at the palace.”

“The Favorite?” A third DJ set his tray down at the table, “Looks like Ted’s at it again. The Favorite’s not real. It’s just a fairy-tale.”

“Nuh-uh! How else do you explain the queen not letting anyone into the capital this week! They say the whole System’s gonna be on tight security!”

The first DJ sighed thoughtfully, “That would explain it. I heard she cancelled, like, three concerts this weekend.”

“So you guys wanna watch at my place or the square?” The third voice piped up again.

“The square, of course! If this announcement really is that big, odds are a big dance party’ll break out anyways!”

“Oh yeah,” Lucy rolled her eyes to herself. It was hard to believe that these dummies had any association at all with the people responsible for the separation between her and her boyfriend. Then again, they were just as childish as the invaders from the early days, but more… normal? In fact, they kind of reminded her of the folks in Apocalypseburg before they all matured, but even less mature than they had been back then.

As the DJs shifted back to unimportant chatter, Lucy’s group finished their meal in silence, but didn’t leave right away, instead waiting until the closest groups to them left.

“I guess we know where we’re headed,” Lucy finally ventured.

“Are ye sure that’s a good idea?” Metalbeard prompted.

“What are you talking about?” A fresh bout of agitation caused Lucy to gesture abruptly with her hand, but slowly put it away when she realized it was shaking.

“Wyldstyle, come on, you admitted earlier that you barely got any sleep.”

“Plus, Metalbeard doesn’t have a body still,” Benny added and Metalbeard huffed, “They made it sound like it wasn’t happening until this evening, right? Just give me today. I can go back to that Reject Pile and we’ll see what we can do about fixing him up, yeah?”

“I can’t just sit back and watch while—“

“You said it yourself,” Unikitty offered, “We have to bide our time. The best we can do for now is see if we can figure out what this queen of theirs is up to.”

“Fine,” Lucy growled, sinking back into her seat.

“And get some sleep.”

…

Lucy trudged her way to the square with her friends (minus Metalbeard, as they’d agreed for him to stay behind to keep a low-profile) in tow, and finally dared to look up. The square was surrounded by screens twice the size of one you’d find a movie theater embedded into the skyscrapers that lined the area. They’d had to push their way through the crowds just to get to the edge of the square, but luckily it seemed that the size would ensure they got a somewhat-decent view of the centermost screen.

It looked like the announcement was just about to start as her friends pushed their way to her side. Currently, the screens were occupied by an obnoxious countdown, now less than fifteen seconds away from zero. The crowd around Lucy buzzed higher, then lower as it reached five as some were apparently trying to quiet their peers.

Three.

Two.

One.

“People of the Sistar System!” The screen cleared to to reveal an announcer who was… an ice-cream-cone?  
“You’ve gathered in front of your various screens and devices in order to blah, blah, blah…” Lucy tuned, suddenly torn between hoping that this was all a big mistake and hoping it wasn’t.

“Please give it up for Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi!”

Lucy couldn’t decide whether or not to be surprised when she saw a tentacle-monster travel to the center of the stage. On one hand, the Sistar aliens were so cutesy (albeit destructive) that it was hard to believe their leader could be so… outlandish. On the other hand, this place was just chaotic and immature enough for this to make sense. To Lucy’s further surprise, the monster’s form even shifted to something resembling a human, though she kept the outlandish coloring.

“Thank you so much, Reginald. And thank you all for taking the time to tune in for my little announcement. I know most of you probably had plans. It being Dance-Party-Night and all, but don’t worry, it’ll be worth it!” A short burst of anticipation welled up in the crowd around Lucy.

“Anyways, as you all know for the past five or so years, we’ve had a few…” She made a clearly-fake, nervous hand-gesture, “Difficulties in getting along with our brother-galaxy--- Apocalyseburg.” The queen chuckled lightly at the low buzz of disdain in the crowd.

“Now come on, don’t be like that! Just because they like to be a bunch of Debbie-downers doesn’t mean we have to be!” She morphed her face into an overly-exaggerated frown and got a few laughs in return. “Now as I was saying, there is one person who has had our respect from the get-go. A person who first welcomed our envoys into Apocalypseburg and without whom, your fabulous ruler wouldn’t even be making this speech.”

The crowd—the one around Lucy this time—began to jitter among itself.

“Is she talking about…?”

“So the rumors are true?”

“Ha! I told you he was real!”

Lucy’s breath hitched and Unikitty rested her tail nervously against Lucy’s shoulder.

“Of course, I am talking about The Favorite.” The mumbling increased to exclamations that mingled indiscriminately. The queen once again patiently awaited her subjects to calm down once again, and for Lucy, it couldn’t come fast enough. 

On one hand, she was horrified to be right, but on the other…

“Come on,” she muttered inaudibly to herself, “Emmet...”

“Yes, that’s right. After all these years, The Favorite has finally agreed to come talk with us!” Lucy grit her teeth. Agreed, yeah right.

However, her anger was instantaneously forgotten as Emmet himself finally walked across the stage. In slow-motion, no less. Or at least that’s what it felt like to Lucy. Was this what it was like when Emmet saw her for the first time?

Emmet shuffled across the stage to stand next to the queen who handed him an extra microphone. “Uh, hi! My name is Emmet.” A grin broke out in response to her boyfriend’s awkward cheeriness. Even kidnapped, it seemed like he couldn’t help but be nice. At least he didn’t seem to be hurt or anything.

“So, uh, wow, to be honest, I had no idea that anybody here even knew my name, much less that I, uh, created your queen?” Lucy made a mental-note to grill him about that later.  
Emmet caught himself, “Oh, my name is Emmet Brickowski, by the way.” His nervous smile faltered when he was met with a moment of smile. It came back full-force however, when a cheer surged from the crowd that Lucy couldn’t see. Apparently, the crowd had needed a moment to absorb this.

“Thank you, Emmet,” the queen said, “Thank you so much for being here to talk with us. It must have been so hard, you and your friends have it pretty rough over there, yeah?”

“Well, yeah.”

“That’s why I’ve put together a special team to come up with gifts just for your friends.”

“Wow, really?”

“Mmm-hmm. Consider it all a peace-offering. Something to help your friends rebuild. It’s the least we can do. Ain’t that right, folks?” The queen’s words were met with an ambiguous hum, which she seemed to ignore. She motioned with a hand and the camera shifted slightly to reveal a monitor set into a wall of the stage that had gone unnoticed until now. “Let’s see what they’ve got!”

“My queen!” A cheerful brunette woman greeted them from the other side, having to yell over some construction noise in the background. “We’re pleased to announce that through the generous donations of our very own citizens, we’ve managed to procure these gifts.” 

As the lady described the gifts, Lucy didn’t need to see or hear her friends to know that they were beside themselves with excitement. And that Metalbeard would be if he were here as well. A top-of-the-line spaceship? A pirate-ship? Both the size of planets. There was also a portable-building that was quite literally dripping with glitter. (“In case they decide to drop their whole doom-and-gloom-thing,” the lady explained with a chuckle.)

Lucy was beside herself as well, though for a different reason. How… how was it that those gifts were so perfect? So uncanny to the interests of her friends? As she looked back at her boyfriend, a fresh surge of dread coursed within her. 

There were a few other gifts, all as extravagant (and edgy) as the last. At the end of it, Emmet spoke up with oblivious enthusiasm. “Oh yeah! Everybody’ll love that!”

“Really? Phew.” The queen wiped her brow in an overly-dramatic way. “I’m so glad to hear that. This was all put together on really short notice, you know.”

“Yeah, everybody’ll be thrilled, you did a great job, Ms. Queen!”

“So what do you say, Emmet? Do you think we can work this out?”

“You betcha. Wait, ‘til everybody sees—“

“And what are we getting out of this?” A voice rose out of the crowd. The camera swerved around toward the crowd. Though it had come a mere two seconds ago, there was now no telling where the heckler’s voice had come from, because it seemed to be joined by at least two dozen other mumblers.

“Pardon?” The queen questioned, though she was now out of sight.

Someone, a young man closer to the front answered her a bit more frankly, “Why should we give them everything? It just isn’t fair, your majesty.”

Though his statement was calm, it seemed to encourage the surrounding temper-tantrum. The camera whirled back to face a wide-eyed Emmet standing next to the exasperated queen, with the latter of the two motioning for the camera to be shut off.

No! Lucy’s mind screamed as involuntarily reached out to the newly-darkened screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you for reading and I'm sorry about the wait. 
> 
> By my estimation, I think the next chapter will mark the halfway-point of the story. But I could be wrong, as it could be a bit longer or shorter.
> 
> I don't know when the next one will be out, since I'm probably going to be kind of busy this month. That being said, it really is important that I take my time, at least to a certain extent, so that I can make sure the quality is alright.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for the record, no, don't worry, nothing has been put into Emmet's tea or anything. I feel like that's a common-enough trope that I wanted to say that ahead of time. Now that that's out of the way.
> 
> So now we reached the halfway/turning-point in the story. Yay!
> 
> But I have a confession: one of my motivations for getting this out a bit sooner than usual is because I was hoping to give myself a little hiatus/break this month and possibly next month. Apologies in advance, but I'm hoping that if I give myself a little extra time, I can sort out a few things. For one thing, I was hoping to post a little thing for Halloween for a different fandom this month. Don't know if that's still happening though. But also, I figured that I could use this time to plan out the rest of the story a little more. I have the general idea, but still, I'd like to give myself a bigger head-start. I'm really hoping that doing this will cut down on the wait-time between each chapter. 
> 
> Still, I'm sorry, guys. I'll try to have the next one out by December 7 at the latest!
> 
> Until then, enjoy this chapter. I've been looking forward to it quite a bit.

“What if I gave you this stuff? Will you let me have Emmet then?”

“Let me think about it, okay?”

…

“I cannot tell you how sorry I am that you had to see that, Emmet.” The queen stirred her sugar into her tea expertly while giving Emmet a sympathetic look. She waved her other hand around impatiently, “It’s bad enough—this whole ‘impending war’ business—but since our circumstances demand a professional approach, I feel I’m forced to use this boring, old tea-room.”

“I don’t think it’s boring,” Emmet said honestly. “You have good taste.” It was true, the tea-room was small and simple, but it was clearly cleaned often, not a speck of dirt or drop of tea on the pale, pink table-cloth. The walls were lined with delicate displays of porcelain, and the wall just to the right of the table was ornamented with a view of the bright-blue atmosphere that vividly offset the pastel-orange of the wallpaper inside the rounded tower-room.

“Thank you, Emmet,” the queen sighed and rested her head against a hand, “But I’d much rather show off my Waffle Room.”

Emmet stared at her, “Waffle Room.”

“Or the French Toast Room.”

“You have one of each? Not both fused into one?”

The queen looked sheepish, “Too much? I was told that the Cake Room was going overboard, but what can I say?”

“Maybe we are related.”

“Ah, you see,” the queen smiled knowingly, “That’s what makes us different from everybody else in this whole mess. It’s what makes me different from my people, and it’s even what makes you different from your friends. We have something motivating us to fix it. Family. The others are just strangers to each other. I think they’d be fine if they never saw each other again.”

“Well, maybe we can fix that,” Emmet offered, “I mean, if we get along, then why can’t they?”

The queen’s demeanor shifted to one of unease, “Well, you see, that’s what I wanted to discuss with you.” Once again, she shifted her attitude, this time adopting one of a business-like tone, though Emmet could tell there was still a bit of dread in there somewhere. “We may have to face facts and get serious this time around.”

“You… you think it’s too late to fix it?” Emmet berated himself for being unable to squash his own unease as well as the queen. He made a mental-note not to touch his teacup for fear of a repeat of the incident with his plastic-cup the day before.

“Your friends must have an awful opinion of us, I know. My subjects, especially the ones who first came to your planet the day I was created… they mean well, but they can be, well, impulsive.”

“Well, uh, yeah.” Emmet admitted.

“Well, it works both ways, I’m afraid. My subjects have created a less-than-favorable image of your friends as well. Have you noticed that it’s usually been the same subjects every time?”

“I never really thought about it.” But now that she mentioned it, that there were a lot of people in the Sistar System. A lot of different people and a lot of different creatures, and it did seem like the only ones who ever really atta—visited, were those same blocky creatures that first showed up. 

“Yes, the Sistar System has grown quite a bit over the years, but most of them were honestly too intimidated to go.”

“You were intimidated of us?” It was a surprise, though his friends would probably have been delighted to hear that.

“Well, not at first, but as time went on, the envoys description of your town and your friends changed. And I’m afraid when they get scared or when they feel they a situation isn’t fair… well, you know.”

“Well, there’s no reason for anybody to be afraid anymore though. We can make peace and just get along, can’t we?”

“Make peace with who, Emmet? We’ve tried sending communications back to your city. I even sent someone in person there this morning. We’ve received no communication. My messenger couldn’t even get in. I admit, I was desperate when I sent Mayhem. I told her to use any means necessary to bring you here, because I knew that they likely wouldn’t cooperate easily. But I’m afraid that I’ve made things even worse. I fear that if we send anyone back, they may attack my messengers or worse, attack the Sistar System.” She paused, taking a sip of her tea and looking out the window. Emmet stared with her, feeling that somehow this was his fault for not trying harder to communicate with the Sistar people.

As she continued, she spoke with a new level of firmness, “We have to look at the bigger picture. Why, if this went south, there’s no telling what my people would do.” Emmet nodded. He liked the people here, and really didn’t want to see that side of them. “What about your people, Emmet? How do you think your friends would react if this wasn’t resolved?” The question was slow and caught him off-guard, but he knew the answer was simple enough.

“My friends? Well, I guess they’d panic too…” Emmet paused, “In a kind of edgy, tough way where they wouldn’t admit they were afraid.” He shrugged when she gave him a weird look. Something occurred to him then, “In between you and me though, I doubt you’d lose in a war between.” It was against his better judgement, he knew, and Lucy would probably scold him for saying it.

“Aw, shucks.”

“I mean it. This place is huge! And you have so much cool stuff and a lot of people and more than enough sugar to fuel mass-destruction. But you’re the one who’s trying to make peace with us. That’s really…” He searched for a good word, “Cool of you.”

“Ain’t no problem, sweetie. You might be right about me winning some silly war, but what would I gain, really? Like you said it’s a wasteland and your friends still wouldn’t want us around, so no one would be happy. No, it’s better to make amends and make sure everyone gets what’s important to them, you know?”  
“Huh. That… doesn’t sound like what my friends would choose. Nowadays, they usually opt for whatever’s tougher.”

“Mayhem mentioned that you and they had a few differences last you saw them.”

“They just want what’s best for me,” Emmet said in their defense. The queen gave him a skeptical look, “They wanted me to be more like them. Lucy said I had to grow up.”

The queen turned thoughtful again, though this time her attitude was lighter, “It sounds to me like your friends and I have slightly different ideas as to what it means to ‘grow up.’ I suppose your friends are right to a certain extent. What it comes down to is this: An adult has to make the best decision, and sometimes, yes, that is tough, but it doesn’t always pay to appear tough. Do you get what I mean, Emmet?”

Emmet took a moment before replying, “Are you sure I’m the one who made you? You sound way older than me,” he caught himself, “Oh, no offense, I didn’t mean—“

The queen laughed, “No worries, Emmet, I understand.”

“So what can we do to help? Really, Ms. Queen, I’ll do anything at all,” Emmet said. He felt a growing urge to follow her example of leadership. She’d shown that she was willing to fix this whole thing, despite the size of the mess or perhaps because of it. Either way, he was more impressed than he’d been in a long time.

The queen looked thoughtful, gazing out the window, “If you could sign something. Something to show them that you’re in total agreement with us that the fighting should stop. I believe that my people still trust you despite all this. At this point, I’m afraid that living together now would be impossible.” Emmet wilted for a moment, disappointed, but steeled himself and nodded. “But if we simply closed our borders for now, allowed everyone to stick to their own galaxies. Give each other the room to mature… I know it’s not a perfect solution, but it might be the best we can manage for now. Except… I’m afraid that my people still wouldn’t be happy without some form of compensation.” 

“There has to be some way to show the Sistars that my friends aren’t bad. Isn’t there anything I can do? Anything I can give them?”

“But Emmet… the only thing your people have that we would want… is you.”

Emmet stilled in confusion, “But you just said that… that we couldn’t—“

“I don’t think we all could live in harmony, but Emmet, I believe you could.”

For the first time in this meeting, Emmet was speechless. Up until now, the queen had made him feel so at ease. She made him feel like he could be a leader, a hero, after all. She’d helped with his confidence like no one before, not even Patrovius.

But this.

Sounded unbearable.

It wasn’t her fault, he knew, but…

“You see though, don’t you, Emmet? We could resolve all of this in just a few minutes, but…”

“I could never see my friends again.” Emmet struggled out of his seat, suddenly feeling caged by the table and the thin, white chair. 

“I… I’ve never had to make a decision like this. Except for… But even then…” Emmet struggled and floundered to explain but came up empty.

“I know, sweetie. It’s just like what I said before. About making hard decisions? And being a leader means having to be more mature than most. Sometimes, it means being more mature than you feel.” 

She stood up to face him and reached a hand to his shoulder, and he surprised himself by shrinking away. “I… I just need a little time.” The queen looked hurt but gave him the space.

“I’m sorry,” he continued, “Honest. I know you said we were pressed for time, but…”

“Say no more, honey,” she assured, “Why don’t you take the rest of the day and tomorrow to think it over?”

“Thanks.” He couldn’t meet her gaze now though. Shame kept his eyes to the floor. After all that talk and conviction. This wasn’t mature or grown-up or tough or whatever. But part of him hoped that in the meantime he could come up with some other solution.

He hadn’t realized just how much he’d been missing Lucy until now.

“I understand, Emmet. Listen, I want you to make yourself at home in the meantime. Everyone’s at your disposal here.”

“Uh, thanks,” Emmet echoed, making his way to the door.

“No problem, sweetie,” she called after him, “And just say the word if you need to talk to me.” Emmet nodded mechanically as he went through the door and had to keep himself from collapsing at the top of the stairs outside.

…

“There you are, girl. How’d it go? Didja chase ‘em off?”

“I managed to keep them out of the castle, but I’m afraid they got away.”

“This could get a little tricky then. I’ll need to keep a closer eye on him than ever.”

“What would you have me do, my queen?” 

“We need to keep him distracted. Go to him now. You don’t have to keep him in the castle anymore. Take him wherever he wants.”

“Even…?”

“Yes, yes, even there. And Mayhem?”

“Yes, my queen?”

“I don’t know what your drama with him is, but we need him to like it here. I need him to like it here. Do you understand?”

“Of course, my queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for the record, the next chapter most likely won't be about Emmet's friends' failed recsue-attempt, but rather, the aftermath. I'm a sneaky little monster, coming up with shortcuts, aren't I? :3
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! See you later.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it. I finally finished Chapter 8! Thank you so much for your patience. Chapter 9 shouldn't take too long to finish. 
> 
> Unfortunately, I can't guarantee how quickly the other chapters will come out. There are some days when I'll have to slow down in an effort to take care of my dominant arm. It's nothing serious, don't worry, I've just been overusing it this year and it's been kind of sore this week. This is something I've been trying to ignore for a while and it finally caught up to me.
> 
> Like I said, nothing too serious, I think. It's just been particularly sore this week and I had to take a couple of days to rest it. 
> 
> Still, the hiatus did allow me to get a good amount of work and planning done. So thank you again for your patience and thank you for reading, as always.

It was the second time her boyfriend’s creation had been destroyed, only this time, Lucy had been inside when it happened. She slammed a fist into the ground and forced herself upright. Despite her little show the day before, the Queen clearly did not want them any closer.

“Is everybody okay?” Unikitty called.

“Well, I can’t feel my body,” Metalbeard complained, “So I may need another—Oh.” Upon the gestures of his friends, he looked down to realize that he hadn’t, in fact, lost his new body yet. (It was a lot shorter than usual though, mostly just a metallic-version of your usual citizen). “Right. That’s normal for me.”

“No!” Benny shouted. He uncovered himself from a small pile of bricks, but dropped to his knees shortly afterward. “What kind of heartless monsters would do this to a poor, innocent spaceship?”

Lucy stared along with the rest of them, dejected. They could all see that there weren’t enough pieces left to rebuild. At least not yet. The ship had lasted as long as it could before finally crashing where they were now. In the fight, as well as getting away, however, they’d lost several bits and pieces.

In their panic, they hadn’t exactly gotten a good look at this planet and looking around now didn’t necessarily help. Instead, it gave Lucy a sense of being sent back to the start. It looked like another wasteland.

Fortunately, as she looked closer, she realized that it wasn’t a junkyard like the “Reject Pile.” There was junk here and there, and it looked like a mess for sure, but it didn’t look abandoned. There were machines and noise told her there were people at work here. Looking up, she also realized this area was very close to a city.

It was a construction site.

Just like where she met Emmet.

“Okay. I think it’s about time we move on, people,” Lucy said. It wasn’t usual for her to feel this flustered, and she wished she could remember how to bury that feeling. “I say we check out that city for anything that might help us.” The others agreed, thankfully unaware of her discomfort. 

… 

The group decided to split up, deciding that it would be best to work as quietly as possible. The Sistars had seemed to be pretty oblivious to the queen’s schemes up until now, but after getting outright attacked, they knew it was probably better not to take any chances with them.

So Lucy wandered the streets, trying not to look suspicious while still scoping out the shops for anything that could be of help.

Waffle shop.

Candy store.

Plant shop.

Waffle shop.

Bouncy store.

Grocery store.

Coffee shop.

Construction shop.

Hold it.

What was with all the waffles? And a construction shop? There may have been a construction-zone, but a store dedicated to it? Wasn’t that a bit overkill? She’d never even seen anything like that in the old Bricksburg and that place had been the capital of redundancy.

Not only that, but there was something odd about the selection of shops altogether. Something familiar. 

More familiar than usual, anyways.

Continuing her path along the buildings, she did her best to keep an eye on the stores. Sure enough, the pattern continued.

She threw a glance back down the way she’d come. Construction… Unusual though it was, it could also have something useful…

…

Of course.

Of course.

Of course, there wasn’t actually anything here that could help her. What was she thinking?

The store had everything from hard hats of every shade and color to hammers of every size. Whole aisles seemed to be filled with each and every individual tool needed for construction (or at least playing at it). Rows and rows of shelves of things that Lucy couldn’t have cared less about. There were even tools she couldn’t have even named.

Yet, she had to have spent a good hour in wandering around with nothing to show, working her way through all the aisles from left to right. At the front of the store again, she checked her progress and groaned upon the realization that she still had about a third of them to go.

Movement caught her eye, however, and she brightened when it turned out to be an elderly store clerk, climbing down from a ladder that leaned up one of her previous shelves.

“Um, excuse me, sir,” she approached him as he reached the last step. “Are there any bricks around here?”

“Pardon?”

“Bricks, you know, for master builders?”

“Sorry, kiddo,” he didn’t seemed to notice her souring attitude, “Can’t say I know whatch’re talking about.”

Lucy inhaled, “Nevermind.”

…

The only good thing so far here was the existence of coffee. And not just any coffee, oh no. 

“Espresso, huh? I’ve only seen one other person in this whole system order that.” Lucy fidgeted slightly, though this time she was too caffeine-deprived to care as much if she stood out. Apparently, the cashier thought she was just shy, so she gave her an encouraging smile, “It’s cool if you’re new, hon. I think just about all of us are.”

Lucy humored her, “Oh. Yeah. Good to know.”

“Yeah. Just yesterday it was a ghost-town. Seriously. Only a few people in town. Queen sure works fast.”

Lucy gave a more curt nod this time, paid the lady, picked up her plastic cup, and made her way to one of the smaller tables. She drank, somehow finding the scalding liquid less painful than meandering through this town. Even if it hadn’t been in the Sistar System, Lucy would have taken just about any other environment over a boring, generic, obsolete city design.

She’d never understand how Emmet could have been so happy in Bricksburg as a mindless construction worker. Even after their adventure five years prior and he realized he’d been a pawn, he still showed plenty of nostalgia towards his old job. She chuckled to herself as she realized that Emmet would probably know everything about that stupid shop. He’d probably love that place. And… the plant store.

(She almost didn’t notice the cup slipping from her hand, but tightened her grip just in time.)

And the bounce store.

And all of the… waffle stores.

And… everything else.

But every planet in the Sistar System was this weird, right? They were ruled by some amorphous, shape-shifting thing, for crying out loud. Everybody was weird and childish and (like Emmet?) unfocused. 

(Lyke’s help entered her mind.)

And friendly.

(She thought back to yesterday’s “speech.” It had been a disaster, of course, but the start of it had gone well.)

And they admired Emmet.

She downed the rest of her coffee and struggled her way out the door. While trying to keep her head, she gave the city another look.

At first, looking around at the shops had just been oddly-familiar and strange, but harmless. But now. Now, the shops, the construction-equipment, even the happy-go-lucky attitude of the people had turned into a mocking nightmare in the blink of an eye.

It just couldn’t be a coincidence.

But how? How would they know so much about him?

Did Emmet tell them?

As the questions multiplied in her mind, Lucy raced back the way she’d come, keeping a desperate eye out for her friend. Anonymity was the least of her worries now.  
This… this wasn’t a trap to hurt Emmet. Or any of them. This was a plan to keep Emmet trapped.

Here.

Forever.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, you guys have been great. Have another chapter.

“You should come out now.”

“No thanks. I’m not in the mood.”

“I’m being told to tell you that there will be a party if you come out. With a bounce-house. And candy.”

“I’m… not hungry.”

“Not even for waffles?”

“No.”

“Pssst. Mayhem.” One of the butlers said from a few feet away, “Try saying ‘please.’”

“I have been told to include the term ‘please.’”

“That’s really polite of you, but I’m gonna have to pass.” Mayhem’s coworkers moaned around her. 

Exhausted after trying to talk to him on and off all evening, Mayhem turned to the others. “Maybe we should leave him be,” said one of the maids, casting a sympathetic look to the door. Mayhem looked back at them in thought, but they seemed to mistake it as a glare and began to back off. 

The last one remaining was one of the more stubborn maids. “Don’t kick down the door again,” she warned. When Mayhem’s only answer was more staring, she sighed, “Have you thought of maybe talking to him without the…” she made a wide gesture around her head.

Mayhem stared.

The next sigh was more exasperated as she walked away, “Honestly, general, do ya even know how hard ya are to talk to?”

Mayhem’s fists curled as she gave the door one last look, “Yes.”

…

Emmet sighed softly in relief at the sound of the departing footsteps. He allowed his shoulders to relax slightly, though he still leaned over his room's small wooden desk.  
That had been about the fourth(?) time the general had tried to convince him to come out. A few times, he almost got up, if only to humor her. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to convince himself that he would enjoy any of what was offered. All he could think about was the prospect of never seeing his friends again.

Of never seeing Lucy again.

The thought made him more than indifferent. It made him… Was this what it was like to hate something?

Wait. He… he wasn’t enjoying any of this. Not the prospect of bright colors or games or tooth-rotting food.

That was exactly what his friends wanted.

So did that mean that this was maturity? Losing everything you loved?

But if that was the case… Maturity felt awful. Was that what all the others were feeling?

Was that what Lucy wanted him to feel?

He’d already known hard feelings before, of course. He already had an intimate knowledge of sadness. Being told he wasn’t good enough to be The Special. Learning that his coworkers thought of him as nothing more than another face. Even recently, learning that even some of his friends thought it was better for him to leave. But that pain was different. It was an emotionally-potent kind of sadness that manifested as strongly as happiness did for him.

This was more of a strange, sick mix of anger, sadness, longing, and… and… was that apathy?

In any case, if he was changing here, becoming more mature, did that mean he was doing the right thing by staying? Would he be doing what his friends wanted? The irony was that the folks here didn’t even have a problem with how he normally was.

But whether or not he was feeling like himself, he knew that he had to make this decision. Even though he knew he wasn’t qualified. Tough or not. Mature or not. He was still as indecisive as the naïve, wannabe-hero he was when Lucy found him.

Lucy.

What would Lucy do?

The toughest decision? But would it really be easy for her to give up her life at home? Would it be easy for her to give him up? Emmet hoped not, but then he supposed that would mean it wasn’t the toughest choice.

Then again, could staying here really be considered the “toughest choice?” It really did seem like a fun place to be and the people seemed to place a lot of value in comfort.  
So could the “toughest choice” really mean… fighting?

But Emmet didn’t really want that, either.

So did that mean he wasn’t tough, after all? But even his friends wanted to stop. Wanted it so bad, in fact, that some of them wanted to give him aw—

The shout that left his mouth this time was one of pure frustration, nearly slamming his head into the desk as he arched over it. He stayed like that for a few moments, face buried in his hands, when a scraping noise brought his gaze up. He wondered if it could be Mayhem reacting to his yelling again, before he realized that the sound wasn’t coming from behind the entrance to his room this time. It came from overhead and outside.

Sure enough, a leg appeared from the top of his window. An instant later, a figure swung its way into the room. A helmet was pulled over their face.

“Lucy?” The name came out against all rationality.

“’Fraid not, stranger,” they replied. They removed their helmet, revealing a chiseled man’s face. “I was scaling to the top of the castle, like I do every other Monday, when I heard the scream. The scream of a man tumbling down the insatiable pit of his own cascading frustration and angst. Lots of angst.”

“It isn’t Monday.”

“Look, kid,” the newcomer had a way of laughing through his comments, “Do ya want my help or not?”

“Yes.” Emmet wasn’t even sure he knew what was going on, but at this point, accepting help at the slightest mention was his first impulse.

“So what was your problem, kiddo?” Emmet stared back, too stunned to know where to begin.

“Got it. Say no more, kid.” The stranger was suddenly at his side, with a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Your face reeks of longing and indecision.”

“My face,” Emmet frowned, “Smells bad?”

“Nah, what you really need is to get away awhile. You have any places or people to see?”

“Well, yeah, I do. My girlfriend, Lu—“ The man’s sweaty hand clamped over his mouth and Emmet was almost relieved. Thinking about her, saying her name. It was shattering.

“Hey now,” the man said quietly. “Can’t let anybody know we’re bustin’ outta this joint. Name’s Rex, by the way.”

Emmet mustered a weak smile once he had control of his mouth again, “Emmet.” His smile slipped, “But I don’t really want to leave. I mean, I do. But I don’t think I should.” Emmet wandered back over to his desk, longing to be alone again.

“But you do want to?”

“I… Yes. But people are counting on me to do what’s best for them.”

“What about what’s best for you, though?”

Caught off-guard, Emmet faced him again, “Isn’t what’s best for everybody else what’s best for me?”

“Is it?”

“Is it?” Emmet echoed, getting flustered. He couldn’t decide if his new friend was cool or frustrating.

“If it’s so good for you, why’d your scream bring me in like a shark to some tasty, tasty bait?” Emmet blinked and Rex went on, “Look, kid. I just want you to close your eyes. Really think hard. Ask yourself what you really really want for yourself. Right. Now.”

Emmet closed his eyes.

But he already knew the answer.

“I want to see Lucy.”

“That’s the spirit.” 

…

Emmet followed Rex through the corridors, trying to mimic the way he shadowed the walls. The queen did say he could go wherever he wanted to, though, so technically he was sure she wouldn’t mind him looking for wherever she kept her ships. However, Rex seemed insistent that they stay hidden, grabbing Emmet and ducking behind furniture and plants whenever he heard so much as a tap.

Even their own footsteps, so it happened a lot.

“The hallways are suspiciously empty tonight,” Rex muttered.

“I think I heard there was some kind of party,” Emmet whispered. 

Eventually, the corridor broke off into two different halls, and Rex paused. He glared intently at both choices and murmured to himself again. “Let’s see, Queen probably keeps her ships,” he swayed his arm around, stopping it when it pointed to a door down the hall on the far right. “There.”

Emmet followed Rex down the hall a few feet, but was forced to stop when a pair of voices drifted from the hall they’d come from. Rex motioned for them to hide, this time behind a suit of armor. It was a couple of maids from the sound of it, one of them sounding more familiar than the other.

“And I show up, and she’s kicked down the door… again!”

“You say that like it’s a surprise, dear.”

“I know! But she’s an absolute…” As their voices faded down the opposite corridor, Emmet nudged Rex.

“Psst,” he whispered, “Maybe I should at least let somebody know where I’m—“

“Are you crazy? Don’t alert the enemy.”

“Enemy?” For the first time, Emmet looked at his new friend in skepticism. “Say, you’re not a bad guy or anything, are you?”

“Don’t worry, Emmet. I’m about as ‘Not Evil’ as the queen.”

“Well, okay, but—hey, why was that capitalized?” 

Ignoring him, Rex resumed their path, darting to the lone, iron door, which to Emmet’s surprise, wasn’t locked.

Inside was a garage that would have made Benny either explode with happiness or sick with jealousy. Just about every available parking-space was covered in spaceships of all shapes and sizes. It was like a surreal, mish-mashed jigsaw-puzzle. The commanding presence of bigger ships seemed to fight for dominance, while the smaller ones were either clustered together or clinging to the big ones. It made Emmet wonder how they were going to leave without causing too much damage.

“Oh. Cool. It was actually here, after all,” Rex said, coming up next to him.

“You guessed?”

“Well, Emmet, you see…”

“What do you think you’re doing?” The authority in Mayhem’s voice was like dead weight to Emmet’s convictions, but Emmet managed to steel himself as he turned around.  
“I was going home,” he shook himself, “I am going home.” He walked to the closest ship, a small, purple one and looked for the hatch. No, it was too small, probably built for someone around Unikitty’s height.

“You’re running away.”

He tried his best to ignore her, continuing with one to his left. No, that one was probably too big. “It’s not like that,” he managed to say, “I can’t think here!”

“So you’re going to let your friends think for you?”

“No!” This one wasn’t even a ship! It was a motorcycle. “I just need to know that Lucy’s okay.”

“She won’t be if we don’t fix this.” 

“I know!” 

Slam!

Clink, clink, clink! Chitter.

The ship came apart under Emmet’s fists. He hadn’t even gotten a decent look at it, so for all he knew, it could have been perfect. For all he knew, it could have been the only suitable ship in this menagerie. “Ugh!” Berating himself, Emmet fell to his knees in the mess. He was about to repeat the action against the floor, but a slender hand caught him. It wasn’t the hand that stopped him, however, as much as it was the voice, “Wait.”

He stared into Mayhem’s real face for a moment, surprised to see sympathy in her eyes.

“Do you love her?”

“Yes.” 

It was the one thing Emmet was sure of, no matter what.

“And did she want you to change too?”

Emmet winced, “Yes.”

“Let me ask you something else. Do you think your friends will even listen to you?”

He looked down again, but heard her sigh, “Look, don’t do it for me. Or for the queen. Or anybody else here. Just… take another day to think about it, okay? If you still don’t want to take the deal. I’ll fly you home myself.”

Emmet didn’t reply, but rose up, his mouth a hard line, and marched back the way he came.

“Emmet?” He turned back to her, only just registering that she seemed to be in deep thought. “I know it won’t fix everything. But we can even be friends… if you want.” Her discomfort shook Emmet slightly from his daze. He remembered her reluctance to have it off the day before, and it dawned on him that maybe took a lot out of her to have the helmet on.

He managed a small smile, “I think I’d like that.” He felt guilty, but part of him was glad that he still felt enough to enjoy having new friends.

…

This time, when Emmet got to his bedroom, he skulked his way to the window. Looking into the vast space outside, Emmet wondered what Lucy had felt after he’d been gone awhile. How she was feeling now. When he was being nabbed, she’d been upset, he could see it. But now? The queen had said that the Sistars hadn’t had any contact with his friends. So… was the idea of war so bad that even Lucy and his friends couldn’t come get him?

“So you make up your mind yet, kid?” Emmet nearly knocked his chair over at Rex’s voice.

“Rex! I’m so sorry I forgot about— uh, Rex?” Unable to see him anywhere, looked back out the window. “Rex? Did you scale the walls again? How’d you do that so fast?”

Rex laughed, “Don’t worry about it, Emmet! I just never existed!”

Emmet’s hands froze on the window, “What was that?”

“I was never here.” His voice lingered around Emmet in an echo. “I was just a delusion spawned from your ego!”

Emmet slapped himself on impulse.

“Ha ha! Good luck questioning your sanity, kid. And hey! If worse comes to worse, you can always break stuff again.”

Emmet stood agape for a while, before finally retiring to his desk. He covered his face with a hand again, though this time it shook. “I have got to figure this out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry, guys. I know I originally said Rex wouldn't be a part of this. And I was initially going to hold myself to that.
> 
> But uh, some time after I started this story I went back and watched the second movie again. And I got to the part where Emmet confesses to Lucy that he was afraid that Rex wasn't real, and I couldn't get these scenes out of my head.
> 
> So uh, yeah. XD
> 
> And I may not have made it obvious, but Rex was actually one of my favorite aspects of The Second Part. I just thought the whole time-travel concept might over-complicate everything. But here, he acts instead as a self-coach, reminding Emmet of what he truly wants. He's also a part of Emmet deep down that maybe isn't so convinced that everything is alright with the Sistars.
> 
> So anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I know I did. I think the next two chapter might be kind of long, so I may take my time with them. I don't know, they might not be as long as I think.
> 
> Also, I should probably work on my other ongoing fanfic, "Va-Cage-tion." I feel bad for leaving it hanging so long. Plus, I'd be lying if I said there weren't scenes in that one that I was looking forward to posting. (Unfortunately, it'll probably be while before I can get to those scenes T_T).
> 
> If you couldn't tell, I hate it when it takes a while to get a new chapter out too. But I need to learn patience, or else the content won't be as good. Or worse, my arm will act up again. DX
> 
> Thank you for reading, as always.

**Author's Note:**

> So I know I tagged some of this info already, but just in case I wanted to clear up some things.
> 
> First of all, you could say that the initial idea for this came from when I watched the trailer for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). I saw it way back in December, and I actually thought that I knew where they were going with it at the beginning of the trailer (I was wrong, obviously). I saw Lucy scolding Emmet for being his sweet and optimistic self and then the aliens attacked. I noticed that the first aliens shown were awfully cheerful, so I was thinking, "Oh, okay. The aliens have a similar outlook to Emmet. Maybe they'll kidnap him, and Emmet's friends will have to learn to appreciate him if they want him back." 
> 
> Yeah, no.
> 
> And don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the movie. I don't blame them for going this route, actually. I just wanted to explore what things might have been like if they'd gone another way. I only got around to watching both LEGO Movies recently, and the more I saw of the sequel, the more I wanted to explore my initial train of thought with the addition of the new information that the movie provided, such as the tantalizing fact that Emmet created the queen in the first place. There are other reasons why I think this scenario makes a lot of sense, but I won't go into all of that now.
> 
> So like I said in the tags, there is no Rex here and the queen will be the bad guy. She probably won't be completely evil though. That being said, the queen's plans will be pretty different from what she wanted in the movie. There won't be any kind of wedding. I think it makes a bit more sense for the queen to see Emmet as a potential family member, you know, since he made her and all.
> 
> Lastly, I may not follow the exact same themes of childhood vs. maturity that the movie was going for. I mean, I might explore that a little, but I won't force myself to stick to it rigidly. It depends on what I feel is best for this particular story. Honestly, like I said, I thought it was going to be about optimism vs. pessimism, so it might lean more towards that as well as personal happiness vs. self-sacrifice.
> 
> Anyways, thank you so much again for reading! I think I'm gonna have a lot of fun here.


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